When the Systems Go Down: Are you ready for a cyber-attack?

Gaming computer set up at night

I’ve seen some strange things in the last few days that have stayed surprisingly under the radar.

Yesterday, the entire National Weather Service radar system went down. Normally outages like this are planned. This one wasn’t. The radar is not just for checking rain on your phone, it can literally mean the difference between life and death. Radars detect cloud rotations long before a tornado touches the ground. This outage lasted only about twenty minutes, and officials aren’t calling it a cyberattack (yet), but it was an unplanned, national outage of a federal agency.

And that wasn’t the only disruption. Earlier this week, Nevada state offices were shut down for two days after a cyberattack. Phones, computers, the DMV, even the governor’s website, all went offline. Reports now indicate that bad actors moved data off the state servers. Employees are still waiting to return to work, with no timeline for full restoration or full knowledge of the breach.

Where Most Organizations Are Vulnerable

Cyber vulnerability assessments are one of the smartest investments you can make, and they’re often more affordable than people assume. They shine a light on weak spots before someone else finds them for you.

But here’s the truth: the most vulnerable point is rarely the firewall. It’s the people.

Team education is critical. Do your staff know how to spot a phishing attempt? Can they recognize how sophisticated some of these scams have become? One weak click can open the door to devastating consequences.

A Labor Day Reminder

I’ll never forget one Labor Day weekend when an agency I worked with experienced a successful phishing attack. It started with an obvious email that someone clicked two weeks prior. The bad actor sat quietly, watching emails go in and out. They noticed who sent payroll reminders and created a hidden rule to intercept them. From there, they impersonated the employee and convinced the payroll clerk to reroute an employee’s pay into their own account.

By the time the team discovered what happened, the damage was done. Not only was payroll compromised, but the organization was suddenly bombarded with ongoing attacks, dozens every month. Most traced back to Russia.

A simple verbal verification policy for payroll changes could have stopped it.

Final Thought

These stories aren’t meant to scare you, but they should push you to act. Train your team. Put redundant policies in place. Protect your systems before they’re tested.

If you’re not sure where to start, Ground Zone can help you map out policies, strengthen your operations, and build the safety nets that keep your organization moving when the unexpected happens.